Prologue: The Day Her Sky Changed
The city never slept.
Lights flickered through the tall glass buildings, cars rushed like restless thoughts, and somewhere in the middle of it all… stood a girl who once believed she could outrun everything.
Aarohi Sharma.
She stood by the large hospital window, her fingers trembling slightly as they rested against the cold glass. Outside, life moved as usual—people laughing, arguing, living.
Inside her… everything had stopped.
Her other hand slowly moved to her stomach.
A fragile, almost hesitant touch.
As if she was still trying to believe it was real.
A soft, broken whisper escaped her lips—
"Sach hai na…?"
No one answered.
Because some truths don’t need words.
They settle in your bones… heavy, undeniable.
Tears didn’t fall.
That was the strange part.
Aarohi—the girl who used to cry during movies, laugh too loudly, talk too much—
stood there, completely still.
Empty.
As if someone had quietly taken all her emotions… and left her breathing anyway.
A few months ago…
She was different.
Her laughter used to echo in rooms.
Her dreams were bigger than the sky she looked up at every night.
She believed in love.
In destiny.
In happy endings.
And then—
She met him.
A faint smile appeared on her lips… only to disappear just as quickly.
"Galti thi…"
Or maybe it wasn’t.
Maybe some people don’t come into your life to stay.
Maybe they come to break you… in ways you never imagined.
Her phone vibrated.
“Mumma” flashed on the screen.
For a second—just a second—her composure cracked.
Her throat tightened.
She knew if she heard her mother’s voice… she would shatter completely.
Still, she answered.
“Hello, beta?”
Her mother’s warm, familiar voice filled the silence.
Aarohi closed her eyes.
And lied.
“Haan Mumma… main theek hoon.”
A pause.
Because mothers always know.
“Sach bata, Aarohi… sab theek hai na?”
Her lips parted.
A thousand truths stood at the edge of her voice—
About the betrayal.
About the loneliness.
About the life growing inside her.
But she swallowed them all.
“Bas thodi thak gayi hoon… kaam zyada hai.”
On the other side, her mother sighed softly.
“Apna khayal rakha kar… tu hi toh hai meri duniya.”
Those words…
They almost broke her.
Aarohi pressed her hand harder against her stomach, as if grounding herself.
She wanted to say—
Mumma… main akeli nahi hoon ab.
But the words refused to come out.
“Hmm… love you Mumma.”
“Love you beta.”
The call ended.
And the silence returned.
Aarohi slowly slid down to the floor, her back against the cold wall.
For the first time—
her eyes filled.
Not with loud sobs.
Not with screams.
Just quiet tears… the kind that fall when you’re too tired to fight anymore.
She looked down at her trembling hands.
At the life she never planned.
At the future she never imagined.
And somewhere deep inside her broken self—
a question echoed:
"Kya main isse sambhal paungi…?"
(Can I handle this?)
Outside, the city kept moving.
Inside—
a new story had just begun.
Not of dreams coming true.
But of a girl…
who would have to rebuild herself from nothing.
